


Broomsticks and Bedframes

by smutty_claus



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Community: smutty_claus, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-14
Updated: 2009-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-04 10:17:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smutty_claus/pseuds/smutty_claus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marietta has been atoning for her betrayal from her 6th year and now Harry Potter's finally come to see her, on Christmas Eve of all times.  Maybe there's hope for the two of them to reconcile, but then she's asked to step up and risk her life.  And to her surprise, Harry's not letting her go alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broomsticks and Bedframes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flora (florahart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/florahart/gifts).



> Written by [csi_tokyo3](http://csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com/) as part of the 2009 Smutty Claus exchange.

**To: florahart  
From: Your Secret Santa**

 

>   
> **Title:** Broomsticks and Bedframes (What Are Two Things You Want Girls To Hold Onto Tightly?)  
> **Author:** [csi_tokyo3](http://csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com/)  
> **Pairing:** Marietta Edgecombe/Harry Potter  
> **Summary:** : Marietta has been atoning for her betrayal from her 6th year and now Harry Potter's finally come to see her, on Christmas Eve of all times. Maybe there's hope for the two of them to reconcile, but then she's asked to step up and risk her life. And to her surprise, Harry's not letting her go alone.  
> **Rating:** NC-17  
> **Warning:** violence/action  
> **Author's notes:**: [Woodchester Mansion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woodchester_Mansion.jpg) actually exists out in Gloucestershire. It was built in the mid-1800's, only to have construction abruptly stop one day in 1868. There's just the building shell, some stairs, and the unfinished chapel. It's considered to be one of England's great haunted mansions. You can see the tri-level fireplaces that Marietta saw [ here.](http://bathdailyphoto.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/061013063glosnympsfieldwoodchestermansionsouthwingbilliardrm.jpg) I invite you, after reading this fanfic, to visit Youtube and listen to Loreena McKennitt's Christmas song, ["Dickens' Dublin"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwP91fDaL-Q), as an added bonus.  
> And celebrating the inclusion of lesbian vampires in film, the fight scene pays tribute to those characters of the cult movies _Vampire Lesbian Kickboxers_ and _Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter_.

 

"So there I am, standing next to Harry Friggin' Potter, who's teaching this little room full of fourteen to sixteen year olds defensive magic." She sat back down on the stool. "And my best friend's so in love with this guy, she can't even pronounce 'Expelliarmus' correctly when he gets close. The next thing I know, my sleeve's on fire!"

A chuckle ran through her audience.

"Now, I know that what I _should_ have been thinking was, 'Do a Water Charm, you silly twerp, and put it out!'. But my first thought really was, 'Oh my God, this is a Simone Fox original creation! If I get it wet, it'll be ruined!' So in my head, I'm now mentally shrieking and doing figure-eights through the rest of the class, while frantically waving my flaming sleeve around."

This time, the reaction was a sprinkling of laughter.

Marietta grinned as well. "I know, right? But I puff the fire out with my wand, like any good little witch, and send Potter this death-glare that every girl knows means, 'I am so raiding your wardrobe for this,' except he's a boy and he's probably thinking, "Huh-huh-huh-huh. Fire! Fire! Girls! Quidditch!" She smirked as most of the witches in the audience laughed along, but the men were more muted. "That joke always polarizes an audience, doesn't it? And before anyone asks, it was not because Cho set my sleeve on fire that I did what I did all those months later."

Lifting a hand, she pushed up the invisibly-Charmed eye-mask she had been wearing all night to reveal the SNEAK still spread across the middle of her face. "We've had a lot of laughs tonight, which is good. Because after the last couple years, we can use all the laughs we can get. But I also want to encourage all of you tonight. It's been hard, hasn't it? We've all been watching over our shoulders, looking for that person who would sell us out to the Ministry because of our heritage, or because they wanted our job, or just because they had no one else to betray. Or maybe some of you out there had to do the unthinkable to protect friends and family and gave someone else away. It's okay. I'm the _last_ person in this room who can condemn you for that."

Marietta got up from her stool and began pacing slowly. "I lost six months of my memory the night I did what I thought was right, and betrayed Harry Potter and his friends to Dolores Umbridge, just because they'd wanted to learn to defend themselves. I was under terrible pressure from my family because my mother was a loyal Ministry employee and by that, I mean loyal to Cornelius Fudge and his campaign against both Harry and Professor Dumbledore." She gave a wry grin. "How many of you read the book from last year?" Seeing all the hands up, she nodded. "Mm-hmm. Well, what I didn't know was that a certain witch who shall remain nameless had arranged a little jinx should anyone give away their secret. And I stepped right into it the minute I opened my mouth to that foul toad Umbridge." She paused at the applause and scattered cheers, grinning again. "Oh, you know the old bat? She almost gave me whiplash at Hogwarts after I got this," Marietta touched her cheek, "and that Memory Charm from an Auror which lasted for more than a year. A year in which I had no clue why I'd done what I'd done. I remembered my confession, but that was about it."

She paused to stretch and pick up her water goblet from a nearby table, taking a sip before sighing. "The Memory Charm eventually weakened and broke entirely just about the time things blew up at Hogwarts seven months ago. I remembered everything I'd been made to forget, all to protect Potter and Dumbledore. And the guilt that hit me was pretty damn-near unbearable. But I had help. My best friend Cho Chang was there for me and spent a few nights listening to me sob and whine about how stupid I'd been. But that's not all she did." Marietta resumed her pacing. "She wouldn't let me hide from my mistake. Oh, not that I could with this on my face, but she made me take responsibility for what I'd done, which is why I'm here tonight and have been for the past week. Did anyone die because of what I'd done? No, thankfully. Could they have? Possibly. And it's my lot with which to live.

"A lot of you are living with some terrible things you've done right now and I encourage you to find someone to talk to. I can be one of those people, if you like. I've been there. And this is how I'm dealing with it." She exhaled shakily and took a few seconds to compose herself. "I know what you're thinking right now: 'Did Potter forgive you for all this?' So far, no. I haven't apologized to him, either. I've been far too afraid of him. And then he went and vanished, and Professor Dumbledore was dead, and a lot of things have happened between then and now. Can he forgive me? Will he? I don't know yet. I'm willing to hope, though. And you're wondering if you can ever be forgiven or if you can forgive for all those things, too. Well, I think you can. Our last speaker, and our host tonight, is living proof of that. Please welcome Percy Weasley."

As scattered but enthusiastic applause greeted this introduction, Marietta cancelled the Sonorous charm on her wand, and turned into Percy's embrace, stifling a sob as he squeezed her body against his. "Thanks for this, Perce," she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

"That was great," he whispered back. "Cho's waiting for you backstage. And Harry is, too."

She stiffened, part in shock, part in fear. "He is? Does he want royalties for using his name?"

"I doubt it. That's never been part of his life. I think he's ready to talk to you, though. Go on."

He let her go and she made for the wings of the stage. Behind her, she could hear him use a Sonorous spell and start, "Thanks, Marietta. If anyone out there doubts her story, I can corroborate it. I was there that night in Dumbledore's office as Junior Assistant to Cornelius Fudge. I was also there as a complete and utter prat..."

Offstage, Marietta bolted for her tiny dressing room, anxious as anything to know what Harry would be doing there. It was a moment she had played in her imagination for months on end, seeing him again for the first time since her branding, with all the knowledge back of what she'd done to him and his friends. She had read the stories of what his time on the run had been like, what he'd endured, over and over again. She had also seen the accounts from Hogwarts, too, what life had been like under Death Eaters, and had felt sick for some of her old friends. She was immensely grateful she and Cho had left the school before everything had happened.

She hadn't had her DA Galleon on that May night when he had returned to Hogwarts and the call had gone out. Cho had taken it from her the day after Thicknesse became Minister for Magic because she had no longer known that it was a Protean-charmed replica, and Cho hadn't wanted her arrested for forged currency, especially under the new regime. But after the Memory Charm had shattered, Marietta had dared ask about it, if it had burned brightly along with Cho's, and had been tearfully shocked to learn that it had. At least that bit of magic hadn't abandoned her.

Hesitating at her own door, she rapped on it lightly and flinched as it creaked open. She could see the hem of Cho's blue robes through the gap. Then she heard Harry's voice and couldn't wait any longer. Gathering every bit of courage she had, she slipped into the room and stared at the sight.

Cho was _nestled_ in Harry's embrace with her head resting on his shoulder, looking so content that it made tears come to Marietta's eyes. Both of them had their arms around each other and it was clear that important things had been said.

Lifting her head to gaze at Harry, Cho looked as if she never wanted to leave, but then she spotted Marietta in the mirror and gave a squeak, wriggling free and moving to her so fast Marietta swore that she had Apparated. "He came! We've talked! It's ...." Cho broke into almost hysterical giggles, yanking her over to Harry. "Oh, just listen to him."

Blushing, she pulled back against Cho's grasp. She was still afraid ... then Harry raised his head as well and she saw the look in his eyes. It was the one she'd never dreamed she'd see. Abandoning all her prepared apologies and grovelling, Marietta launched herself at him and flew sobbing into his arms. "Harry, I am so, _so_ sorry for what I did. It took me ages to remember what happened …" Her legs gave out and she felt him catch her around the waist, both of them going to their knees in the middle of the room.

"I know," he told her, his hands stroking her back, "and I forgive you. I'm sorry too, because I was being vindictive. Cho and I, we've kind of made up as well. We agreed I was being an idiot about us."

"Well, you had cause," Cho admitted from behind her, "but I was an idiot, too. I think it's something that happens when you're fifteen."

Marietta choked out a giggle through her tears and managed to meet Harry's eyes while wiping her own. "You had a right to be vindictive, too. I brought so much trouble down on you and Professor Dumbledore. I'm really sorry I never got the chance to apologize to him. I was scared to come find you after the whole thing was over. I thought one of your friends would chase me off before I could say anything or that you'd still hate me or ..."

Harry gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze and stopped her. "I don't hate you. And I heard about these events that Percy put together, so I came to listen tonight."

She smiled. "He likes to call them 'Evenings of Healing and Reconciliation with Music and Laughter'. I keep telling him it's a pompous sort of name and it barely fits on a sandwich board."

"Sounds just like him," Harry admitted. "But it's a brilliant idea just before Christmas. Is it okay if I give you your present early?"

Her mind blanked at the thought that he'd get her something. "Whu-huh?"

"Just hold still and let's put this right." His hands were warm as they cupped her cheeks and she blushed again as he touched the marks on her face. Then things started to get even hotter and her cheeks felt like they'd caught fire. His forehead was resting against hers and she could feel his breath against her throat. The heat poured downwards, warming her breasts. Merlin, of all the emotions she had thought she'd be experiencing at this moment, arousal hadn't been one of them.

She shifted, feeling sensations she hadn't felt in ages. Of all the people, of all the times for this to happen, why did have to be now with him? It was just the backwash from the counter-charm, it had to be. Searching her mind for some spell mechanics, Marietta tried to distract herself by mentally reciting the steps for Transfiguring a badger into a Bludger.

She'd just reached the coloring adjustment when the heat in her cheeks abated and she felt the fluttering in her navel ease. Sighing, she sat back on her heels and looked at him hopefully. "Did it work?"

His small smile was one of the greatest things she'd seen in ages and she shrieked as she lunged for her mirrored compact and snapped it open to gaze at her face, now smooth for the first time in two years. As she looked back up at him, ready to spring back into his arms, something in his own, tired face made her pull back. "Harry, just how much stress are you under these days?"

He paused as well and looked blankly at her, but she wasn't fooled as she reached for his hands and squeezed them. "I've spent the last week listening to people talk about life under the Death Eaters. I've seen a lot of haunted looks, including my own when I dared to start looking in the mirror again. And I think that you should be talking to someone, if you aren't already. Did you start Auror training?"

"On-the-job training, actually," he admitted. "The Ministry lost a lot of Aurors and competent wizards and witches when Voldemort's people took over. Shacklebolt brought a lot of us on right out of Hogwarts."

Cho frowned. "Without you finishing your seventh year? No wonder you're worn out. What about Ginny?"

Before he could reply, a witch knocked on Marietta's door and leaned into the room. "Final bows on stage, Miss Edgecombe!" she chirped, then ducked out again.

Marietta grunted as she got back up onto her feet, feeling her knees pop. "It's our last night. Harry, please come out with me? You've done what I've been talking about for the last week."

To her surprise, it was Cho who shook her head. "He's Harry Potter. I don't think we can let him go out onto a stage with a couple hundred witches and wizards in a dark theatre. If someone shot a curse at him, it'd be impossible to deal with. I'd save it for when Percy decides to host another series."

Making a soft noise of irritation, Marietta shrugged, but she knew Cho was right. Nevertheless, she still enveloped him in another hug, squishing her body against his. "Thank you, Harry. Merry Christmas to you, too." She put her lips up to his ear and whispered, "Be good to Cho while I'm out there, mmkay?" As he shifted against her, she giggled into his shoulder and let him go again to head for the door. "Be right back, kids!"

\- - -

It took her longer than she thought to get away from the audience afterwards. Lots of people stayed behind to talk to her, Percy, and the other musicians and story-tellers that made up the event, and many of them were in desperate need of someone to listen, just like she had needed all of them to listen to her when she had first joined the troupe.

She took as much time as she could with each person, suggesting to some that they find further help at St. Mungo's for events they couldn't forget, and to others that they stop running from themselves and submit themselves to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. With the reviews of Ministry punishments that had been made over the summer, many could expect leniency and understanding for relatively minor incidents, rather than the swift and uncompromising justice that had previously been dispensed.

Finally, the crowd had thinned enough that she could excuse herself and she rushed back to her dressing room. To her surprise, Harry and Cho weren't alone. A ghost was floating beside the cloak-stand and talking with both of them. Upon seeing her, though, he broke off the conversation. "Miss Edgecombe?"

Marietta blinked. "Yes?"

"Justus Pilliwickle. Ex-Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Now an advisor and contract-Spirit to same. Sorry to disturb you on Christmas Eve, but we need someone from the Floo Regulation Panel to help with a cross-Department emergency connection. You're listed as an after-hours contact."

Harry looked over at her. "Still followed in your mother's footsteps, did you?"

Marietta shrugged back. "Look, she was a bitch to me over you and Dumbledore, even moreso when I got hexed, and I moved out as soon as I got my N.E.W.T.s, okay? But that doesn't mean I didn't grow up playing around on level six at the Ministry. I inhaled so much Floo powder when I was a little girl that I can cough my way across London if I want." She turned back to Pilliwickle. "What's going on?"

"The Magical Law Enforcement Squad had a meeting earlier tonight with a certain kiss of vampires. There was an incident with them during Minister Thicknesse's tenure that was, shall we say, regrettable?"

"And by that you mean?" Cho prompted.

"The drum major for the 7th Vampire Highland Regiment Pipe and Drum Corps was accidentally staked with his own baton during a performance in Edinburgh," Pilliwickle reluctantly admitted. "But the regiment isn't the problem as much as some of the members of the major's distant and extended family. There was a strain of extremism that was already infecting a great many of them and that incident caused more tensions. Suffice to say, tonight's meeting apparently did not go well. Now we have one dead junior law clerk and two Hit Wizards under siege in a building. There's an anti-Apparition ward up and they have no Portkeys. The only way to extract them is either by broomstick or by Floo. Given that these vampires have very good flight capabilities, we can only use that trick once. If we Floo in, it's out on broomsticks. Fly in, we get them out by Floo connection. But first we need a connection. Their location isn't currently hooked up."

Marietta frowned. "Then it's fly in and Floo out, because we're still trying to untangle some of the enchantments the Death Eaters left behind in the Department. If you want a new Floo connection, then we'll have to hook it up by hand at the location."

Cho gasped. "But, vampires! Mari, that's really dangerous!"

"Not once I'm inside." She looked back at the ghost. "Your people are defending the building, right?" He nodded. "So if I've got someone to watch my back for about fifteen minutes, I can make the connection and get everyone through. You got any spare Aurors or Hit Wizards around this late on Christmas Eve?"

"You do now," Harry said grimly, moving up to her side.

Marietta glanced at him. "Harry! You've done a lot for me tonight. Are you sure you can afford to waste your Christmas Eve?"

He didn't answer, but she saw his jaw tighten and a wave of sympathy went through her. She'd learned to become mood sensitive over the last couple of years and something had definitely made him melancholy. He'd been like that since Cho had mentioned Ginny, actually.

Pilliwickle shook his head right away. "Potter, you're a trainee. Plus you're an Auror, not a wizard trained in dealing with magical non-humans. You can't save everyone, remember?"

Harry's angry flush made Marietta sidle away. "I remember that all too well from the people I lost at Hogwarts, sir. But I don't think the point here is 'dealing with non-magical humans', it's getting our people out of there. Is there a no-staking policy in place?"

"To a degree, Potter, if you're in mortal peril and have no other choice. But assuming I do send you, your sole responsibility would be Miss Edgecombe's safety, not fighting vampires. Is that clear?"

"As Veritaserum, sir."

"Good. Miss Edgecombe, how quickly can you be ready?"

She swung her travelling cloak around her shoulders and fastened the neck-clasp. "I just need my tool bag from work. Do we need brooms for flying?"

"There'll be one hidden for you outside the Apparation wards at the mansion's car park. You don't want a long flight that can be spotted right off. I'm sorry we don't have two, but we weren't expecting this. You get your equipment and I'll give Potter the Apparition point. He can take you by Side-Along."

Marietta's body tingled at that thought and she tried again to squelch the sensations. "Right. Be right back, then." Turning on the spot, she Apparated away.

\- - -

As the darkness lifted on them both, Marietta huddled beneath her cloak as the temperature got suddenly cooler. "Great," she grumbled. "frost in Gloucestershire on Christmas Eve. What a surprise."

"Shh," he murmured, his own cloak covering her as he knelt beside her. Both of them were under Disillusionment Charms rather than his Invisibility Cloak so they could move separately. "The area seems to be clear. We're supposedly a mile away from the mansion."

"Where's the broom?"

Harry made a motion with his wand and the broomstick sped towards them out from beneath a caravan. "Comet Two-Sixty, which means it'll take us just over a minute to cover that mile if we go at full speed. Are you more comfortable sitting in front or behind?"

She bumped his knee with her shoulder. "You're taller, so you should sit behind me if you're steering. Unless you like the feel of a busty girl pressed into your back." _Merlin! Where did that come from?_ "Umm, what's our entry point?"

"Let's play Santa Claus and go right down the chimney," he suggested.

"We could do that, assuming they haven't built a fire in the fireplace already."

He moved his shoulder against hers. "All right. We do a Wendolyn the Weird, regardless. Flame-Freezing Charm and dispell it before we set up the Floo connection." As she nodded, he handed her the broomstick so she could mount first. "And for the record, I've never ridden a broom with a busty girl. This'll be my first time."

Blushing hotly, Marietta whispered, "I'm sorry. I think you and Ginny make a good couple and I don't want to do anything stupid. But I can't stop feeling giddy tonight. You've redeemed me and I just feel allowed to be alive again." Mortified, she slid a leg over the broomstick handle and gave an unconscious wiggle of her hips to find the Cushioning Charm. She glanced back to find him gazing at her rear. "What?"

He moved onto the shaft of the broom behind her, his arms slipping beneath hers to take ahold of the handle disconcertingly close to her thighs. And then his voice was just behind her ear as he leaned in. "Ginny and I aren't seeing each other. She's ... currently exploring other options."

Marietta inhaled cold air as his body brushed against hers in places she had long forgotten she liked. She tried to dispell the heat she was still experiencing by considering the annoyance in his words. Whatever had happened with Ginny, it didn't sound amicable. "Well, if you get me into that mansion and we get your people out, you can have all the options you want, Potter. Now let's lift off." She felt his exhale on the back of her neck and before she could close her eyes, they left the ground with a hard push-off.

As they skimmed over the treetops, she tucked her calves up against the broom handle and winced as she felt unused muscles tighten within seconds. Harry's knees pressed tightly against her hips with his feet against the broom's bristles as they reached top speed and he switched from acceleration to maneuvering.

"Thirty seconds!"

They shot over a small lake and Marietta caught a glimpse of a towering Gothic mansion through a gap in the trees.

"Cast the Flame-Freeze and drop down first," he told her. "I'll booby-trap the broom and the chimney itself, then follow you. Remember, the Disillusionment Charm is still on, so don't get staked! Get set!"

The broom shed the final grasp of the forest and sped towards the house. Shadows leapt up at them from the ground, but Harry dodged effortlessly and pointed the broom towards the roof where she could see a lone chimney pot.

"Ready?"

She felt his legs press in against her, applying the Braking Charm. Before she knew she had done it, she was letting go and aiming her wand down the chimney. One Flame-Freezing Charm later, she was sliding down it into the darkness, using spells to slow her descent.

Marietta touched down lightly into an empty hearth and crouched there to study the room. It was full of light already and a short Asian witch not unlike Cho was pointing her wand unwaveringly at the fireplace, having heard her coming. "I'm from the Floo Regulators," Marietta said hastily. "We've come to get you out of here."

She didn't put up her wand. "Min Park. Disillusionment Charm, huh?"

"Yes." Marietta fumbled for her tools looped around her waist so she wouldn't waste more time. "I've got Harry Potter with me. If I don't get out of this fireplace, he'll land on my head."

Min nodded. "Okay. Just two steps, though, so I know where you are."

Marietta scrambled forward and took a look around the hall as she shrugged her cloak off. There was ... nothing. No furniture, no doors, no ceiling, even. The place was a shell! The massive windows were there, with some panes cracked, but she could see right up to the roof from the stone floor! Well, at least someone had put up a nicely decorated Christmas tree.

Min's wand thumped her on the head and she could feel the Disillusionment Charm sliding off. Hearing noise in the chimney, she quickly turned to see if Harry was coming, only to stop dead and stare in disbelief at the sight behind her. The masonry for the entrance hall rose three stories, with archways visible on all three floors, along with three shells of fireplaces along the chimney route she'd just slid down. No ceilings. Just beams and slots where more supports would have gone.

"_None_ of them are complete?" she asked, as Harry hit ground and Min Park shot a spell at him that removed his own Disillusionment Charm.

"This mansion was abandoned a hundred and thirty years ago in the middle of construction," another wizard said as he appeared in a doorway. "It's empty most of the year, too, except for a caretaker. Although I'm sorry to say the vamps got him. We're doing what we can to make sure we're not next, but there's a dozen very unhappy fang-bearers out there."

"Well, there were more," Min Park snorted, "but there were some sharp objects that got in their way. That's why we aren't being swarmed right now. They're just regrouping. Cooper, this is Harry Potter and his plus-one."

Harry brushed off his cloak and unfastened it, shaking it loose. "Marietta, what's the problem?"

She turned to him. "The fireplaces aren't even finished. To have a good connection, I need an established hearth. This is going to take longer than my original estimate."

"How much longer?"

Marietta stepped around him, crawled back into the fireplace, and began pulling more tools from her pockets. "I won't know until I try for a connection at the Ministry. Just watch those upper fireplaces." She started tapping on the brickwork, sizing up the situation.

Behind her, she could hear Harry discuss the other situation with the two Hit Wizards. Uninterested in the details of why they were there, she produced a charmed tape measure and set it to work determining matches between the gaps in the stonework and a few bricks lying in the hearth. Marietta watched her measuring tape assign colour-coded pairings between bricks and holes while she sent the first magical probe behind the wall, searching for a connection from the Ministry she could use to start up the Floo. Patiently, she swept her silver-tipped tool back and forth, waiting for the shudder that told her of a hit. Then she heard the crunch of someone's feet beside the fireplace.

"Progress?" Harry asked.

"Some," she acknowledged, breaking off the futile pinging. Tapping on stones, then on gaps, she began levitating and slotting the bricks back into position. "No connection was available without the fireplace being complete, but it looks like most of the bricks are here." She worked quietly, then curiosity got the better of her. "Harry, do you know the four most frightening words a boy can hear from a girl?"

"'I think I'm pregnant'?"

"Close. 'We Need To Talk'. But I don't think those words are too scary for you. That's why you really came to the show tonight, isn't it? There's something you want to talk about." She glanced back over her shoulder from her hands and knees, seeing him standing there silently, with his eyes flickering between the upper fireplaces and her. Well, probably her rear again. She had taken off the dress robes that she'd worn on stage and had put on old sweatpants and a Hogwarts-stitched hooded sweatshirt over a T-shirt because she knew she was going to be rolling around in fireplaces. Maybe her sweats weren't as baggy as they'd used to be.

Turning back around, she drew the tip of her wand around the loose bricks, conjuring the necessary mortar to cement everything together. "Talk to me, Harry. Percy never said you and his sister had stopped dating. What happened?" He stayed silent and she gave a small moan of frustration as she poked a brick out of squish. Trying to wrangle it back into line, she lost her balance and felt the shattered brick in the hearth treacherously grind against her knees as she went over. "Ow! Fucking Merlin's aching left meniscus!"

_Oh sure, now he responds,_ she thought as she heard him snickering. Righting herself, Marietta backed out of the hearth and blushed, rubbing her kneecap. "Sorry about that."

"That's a new one on me," Harry admitted, smirking. "I guess Ravenclaws would swear more creatively than the rest of us, though."

Just then, a muffled explosion sounded, followed by a scuffling and thumping high overhead.

"Oh, Godric's gastro-intestinal gurglings. I think that was the broom's booby-traps going off. Looks like the vampires got it together."

Marietta grinned back at him. "See? You can be creative, too. And I'd better get creative with this bloody Floo connection now." She dove back into the fireplace.

As she worked, more crashes came from overhead and occasional bangs against the windows, which had obviously been augmented with Unbreakable Charms. Both Min and Cooper had stayed in the entrance hall, back-to-back with their wands pointed at the door and the staircase going up to the first floor.

"Marietta?"

She jerked as Harry crawled in beside her. "Oi, how can you protect me when you're in here _with_ me?"

"Well, I always suppose I could go upstairs and guard you from there," he said, turning to sit and rest his back against the stonework. "But we call this 'Concealment' at Auror Training. What happens here is, I hide myself from view and when my opponent appears, I get a free shot before he realizes where I am. Clever, isn't it? I think the Americans invented it sometime around the early ninteenth century, along with ducking."

Marietta glowered at him. "If I have to shove you out of here to get the Floo connection hooked up, I'm doing it. I have tools here that can be used for things other than fireplace repair."

"And you were right," he continued, "I need help."

"Plus we're both in an unfinished fireplace in a shell of a mansion on Christmas Eve and surrounded by vampires who apparently hold a murderous grudge against the people we're with. If you keep ... sorry, what?"

He sighed. "I need help. How many funerals have you been to in the last year?"

She thought about it, resuming her probe for the Floo. "Eh? Maybe two, three. My folks came and got me before Professor Dumbledore's funeral. I never forgave them for that once I got all my memories back." She looked over at him. "You?"

"Eight, including Dumbledore's." He seemed to still be as alert crouching in the fireplace as both Min and Cooper were, all of their wandtips constantly in motion, waiting for targets. "And that doesn't include the memorial drinks I had for my owl and Alastor Moody, not to mention the half-dozen funerals I was thrown out of because I was Harry Frigging Potter and got their children killed." He let his breath out slowly. "And d'you know how many will-readings I've been to since May?"

"Far too many?" Marietta asked, hissing in despair as she heard a louder crash and the first shrieks from the vampire kiss breaking into the mansion.

"I missed my godfather's a couple of years ago," he continued as he wrapped his cloak around his left arm, "and the Ministry didn't see fit to let me attend Dumbledore's last year, but I'll tell you, I've been making up for it since." To her enormous surprise, he leaned over and kissed her. He had probably been aiming for her cheek but got her ear instead, which sent a heated flutter down her body. "Be right back. If you get the connection going, let me know right away and I'll get Park and Cooper out of here."

She moaned and kept searching for the elusive 'spot' that signalled an open Floo line. Then Min let out a scream of her own that sounded more enraged than afraid and Harry launched a spell that made Marietta's reddish-blonde hair stand on end. He sprang up from his crouch and out of the fireplace, leaving her on her own.

A metallic tinkling made her whirl around and she saw Cooper doing a passable tango with the Christmas tree, using _Mobiliarbus_ to keep the tree bouncing along between him and the blonde vampire currently tangling with the evergreen boughs.

Min Park was also in the middle of a spirited retreat from another blonde vampire's ferocious attack, but she was vigorously blocking blow after blow from a veritable hurricane of punches and kicks. As Marietta watched, Min whipped the slit front of her outer robe up and it blindfolded her attacker for a couple of seconds, long enough for Min's foot to follow the same path and smash a fang loose.

Harry had both wrists of a brunette vampire restrained behind her head and Marietta could see that she, just like the others, had what looked like extra fangs taped to the backs of her fists.

Just then the probe leapt in her hand, followed by a green flash. A connection! The Floo Network was now activated in that hearth!

"HARRY!"

He looked over, eyes wide. "Get out of there!" he yelled back. "Cooper, we need fire!"

Marietta flung herself out of the fireplace, rolling to the side with her wand up as branches broken from the Christmas tree flew past her, followed by a flame spell hot on their tail. On her back, Marietta arched her hips up and fumbled in her pockets for the packet of Floo Powder. Once the flames were green, they could step through and be safe in the Ministry.

A sharp boot glanced off her hip, making her yelp and roll over as it stung violently. Before she could recover, Harry had tackled the vampire and aimed his wand. "_Densaugeo_!!"

Marietta winced and shielded her ears as a pained shriek rattled the windows. A Teeth-growing spell on a vampire... agony of a new kind. "Thanks."

"Later," he said, ropes bursting out of his wand and anchoring the writhing lady vampire to the floor. "Just get that powder."

She nodded and dug deeper, scrabbling in her pockets until it felt like she'd tried them all. Then, as Min slammed her forehead into a vampire jaw with the same results as her feet before, Marietta's fingers closed on the cardboard packet. "Got it!"

"Brilliant," Min growled, her forehead bleeding from the impact as her wand lashed out and scythed a candle off the tree, the wax transfiguring into wood. "Say the words, babe!" A Whittling Charm further transformed the wooden candle into a stake that she used in tandem with her wand to menace another vampire, this one a blazing redhead.

Marietta rolled over on the spot, slicing the packet open with a Severing Charm and flinging the whole thing into the fireplace. "The Ministry!" Emerald flames roared and crackled. "Let's go!"

Cooper's wand flicked strands of tinsel off the now-thoroughly bedraggled Christmas tree, the spun-silver decorations transforming in midair into silver netting that tangled and tripped up any vampire that got in his way. He charged past Marietta into the fire and vanished from sight.

Min poured a torrent of spells down on her opponent, the stake in her other hand used to blunt the attacks of fanged feet and fists until finally she slammed the wooden point into the vampire's thigh and caused her to collapse. Then Min stamped down on her feet, breaking the fangs embedded in her boots before whirling to make her own escape.

Everywhere Marietta looked, there were downed vampires, all of them female. And then she saw Harry in a duel with what looked to be a teenage girl. Dark-haired, pale and slender, and every bit of her screamed 'vampire!'. But she was agile, too, her fang-tipped foot flicking out over and over, forcing Harry to keep backing up away from the fireplace.

Marietta scooped up one of Cooper's nets and was ready to fling it at the girl, but something barrelled into her and sent her sprawling once again, her own arms entangled in the netting. She flung her hair back out of her face to see one of the broken-fanged blondes inches from her nose, hissing at her. Lifting her trapped hands, Marietta used her wrists and fingertips to give her wand a flick. "Bite me, bitch!" Red sparks flamed out of her wand-tip right into the blonde's face.

As the vampire hissed in pain and fell away in a swirl of black and smoke, not to mention singed blonde hair, Marietta twisted her wrists around and shot a Stunning spell across the room that just missed the outstretched, high-kicking ankle boot of the teenage vampire. "Harry!" She rolled and scrambled to her feet, off-balance.

He glanced around, seeming surprised at the carnage around him. With his wand down, the girl hissed and leapt at him, trying to catch him in an embrace and tear at his throat. As he got his forearm up, her fangs sank into that instead and he yelled.

Marietta reacted. Even with her hands tied, she flipped her wand over in midair and let powder pour from its tip into her palms. As her wand clattered to the floor, she pounded across the room towards the two wrestling figures and flung the double-handful of garlic powder straight into the eyes of the girl.

Her fangs opened wide and came free from Harry's arm as she immediately began sneezing and blistering.

Marietta looped her arms around Harry's good one and yanked him towards the fireplace. "Come on!"

"Wait!" he coughed, raising his wand and Summoning Marietta's from where it had fallen. It soared towards them and she caught it with her fingertips, juggling it as they both raced towards the still-green flames in the fireplace.

"It's only open another five seconds! Go on two," she wheezed. "One ... two!"

"THE MINISTRY!"

They leapt and Marietta found herself grabbed tightly in Harry's embrace as they spun through the Floo Network, grates passing in a blur until both of them shot out of the fireplace in the Department of Magical Transportation and skidded a good ten feet along the floor. They ended up tumbling over and she found herself on her back with Harry's head resting on her breasts, both of them panting for air.

Their eyes met and then both of them spontaneously cracked up with laughter.

"So ... was that Luna's infamous ... Rotfang Conspiracy?" she giggled, trying to control the heaving of her chest with Harry so thoroughly nuzzling the W in 'HOGWARTS'.

"Close," he coughed, not moving. "But they're nastier. Those ladies were the Lesbian Vampire Kickboxers rebellion."

"You're kidding."

"No, that's really what they call themselves. They tape the fangs of The Staked to their fists and boots as a tribute."

She blinked. "And they're all ..."

"Every last one of them." Harry tilted his head to gaze at her with one weary eye. "They usually aren't this far south, but maybe recuiting isn't going too well in the Highlands."

"I think I'll leave that sort of thing to the other Departments," Marietta said, lifting her still-bound wrists and slipping them around the back of his neck, her fingertips caressing his hair and letting him rub his cheek against her breast. "Harry, we're going to have to talk more, obviously. But I think .... mmm ... I think I want to do it someplace more to my liking."

"Sure," he said with a groan. "But we have to be debriefed first."

"Well, that too," Marietta admitted. Then she grinned up at him. "In fact, I insist on my own ..."

A cough interrupted them and both looked up to see a sooty and bloody-faced Min Park kneeling beside them. "As much as I hate to interrupt the foreplay here, kids, it's St. Mungo's, showers, and paperwork for everyone. Let's go."

\- - -

Marietta leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, feeling better as wizards took official statements. The patching-up for all of them had been minor. Although they'd all suffered nicks and gashes from fangs, Harry was the only one who'd been actually bitten, just above the cloak he'd wrapped around his arm, and the teenager who'd sunk fangs into him was still too young to do any real damage.

After the bureaucrats had assured her that a commendation would no doubt be forthcoming for her work on behalf of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement this night and when they had moved on to talk with Min and Cooper, Marietta turned her head just enough to nuzzle his earlobe. "Hey," she whispered. "want to go and talk now?"

"It's four in the morning. You awake enough?" he murmured back.

"I had a nice hot shower. I'm awake." She hesitated, trying to decide if she should forge ahead with what her hindbrain was suggesting. "Shame you couldn't join me in it, though."

His pause made her wince. Fuck, she'd scared him because she'd been spending most of the evening rediscovering all the libido she'd lost while she'd been under that curse.

Then his hand slid over the knee she'd banged in the fireplace. Beneath her sweatpants, the bruise remover was still soaking in, but the pain was all gone. "That sounds like it would have been fun," he told her, his voice still low. "But if the offer's still open, I think I'd rather join you in your bed."

Marietta let her breath out, relieved. "Oooh, Potter. You drive a hard bargain." She sat up a little more and peeked at him. "Do you always need sex after a life-or-death struggle?"

"Depends," he said, his own head turning and breathing into her still-damp curly hair. "You always randy after having a jinx lifted?"

She blushed hotly and stopped herself from squirming on the bench where they were sitting. "Are we both thinking clearly about this?"

"We can find out after we get clearance to get out of here." Harry gave her thigh a gentle squeeze and got up to go find a Healer.

As she got some distance from Harry, Marietta massaged her forehead and tried to order her thoughts. It had been a whirlwind few hours and she was seriously disoriented after everything: Her jinx gone, a dangerous adventure in the middle of the night, an encounter with a radical vampire sect, and now it looked as if she was going to be having sex until dawn.

Okay, three out of those four weren`t too bad. She could have done without the midnight brawl with a horde of man-hating bloodsuckers. That was Auror and Hit Wizard territory, not for a Floo tech. But she had stepped up when asked. The only question was, would she have done the same if Harry hadn`t redeemed her earlier that night? Well, there was another question, too. Why was she acting like this around him?

She kept saying those stupid things when she should be more responsible. His presence was doing things to her that she hadn't thought possible, but she still wasn't sure about his own state of mind. Harry had a hero complex; everyone knew that. He had even talked about it publicly after slaying He-Who-Shall-Never-Be-Named-Again. And she had enabled that tonight. Both of them were obviously suffering from the rush of action.

Still, she wanted him. Or did she just want sex? Her body was obviously full of good feelings after her jinx had been lifted, but was she seriously going to act on them without considering the consequences? And was she going to bed an emotionally-battered hero who was just as obviously struggling with survivor's guilt and the consequences from taking on that hero role? Healing sex was a myth, damn it.

Marietta thought some more about what she was offering Harry, weighing that against what she _could_ offer him. And as he rejoined her and she let him get nice and close for the Side-Along Apparation to her flat, she decided that she needed more information before coming to the appropriate conclusion.

When the pressure and darkness had passed and both of them were standing on her doorstep, Marietta clutched his hand. "Don't think too badly of me if there're a few clothes lying around. I haven't been used to company. And it's a really small flat."

"I think we're both casual about messes like that," Harry said, letting her go so she could unlock her door. "It's been quiet around my place for ages."

She led him inside and when the door had been shut behind her, Marietta slid her arms around his waist to pull him close to her. "I've been meaning to ask you about that," she said, her fingers slipping into the belt loops in his jeans through his robe, giving him a gentle tug to pull him closer. "If this hurts, I'm sorry, but I need to know what went down between you and Ginny. I can't be responsible again for doing something that affects your relationship with your friends." She butted her forehead gently against his and nuzzled him, silently marvelling that she was as tall as he was. "Ravenclaws need information, you know." After a second, she added, "Well, Luna Lovegood aside, but she would be the natural exception to the rule."

Harry had braced his forearms on the door on either side of her head, looking surprised at the position he was in. "Well ..." he began, "remember when I said that I'd been to a lot of funerals this year?"

"Yeah?"

"I tried attending Colin Creevey's. You might remember him from the DA." She nodded. "His parents had me barred from the church. They weren't the last, either. Ginny tried to get me to leave people alone, focus more on her family and our own needs, rather than the needs of our world. She thought that I'd already done more than enough for everyone and it was time to look after myself." He leaned closer and Marietta tried to keep listening, distracted by the thought of kissing those accessible lips. "I thought I could do that, but an empty house wasn't very good for forgetting things. Ghosts, not visible ones, can find you too easily when you're in that state. The Weasleys would have welcomed me at the Burrow, but I didn't want to spend my days there, either. Ginny would have gone stark raving mad from wanting me and having her mother and brothers interfering in our relationship. Then there was the job offer from Shacklebolt to be an Auror and that's been good for taking up my time. That's what broke Ginny and I up, finally."

Harry sighed heavily. "She's been angrier than I was at a lot of people, so she was really energetic and everything about it just being us and her family. I've been more worn out and numb from all the things Aurors are expected to do. So we were living kind of opposite lives and there wasn't anyone to help us sort things out. I like to think we left on friendly terms, but I haven't talked to her for a few months. I do know she's exploring what she calls her 'sensual side', sleeping with both Neville and Luna. Neville's thrilled. Luna ... you know. She barely blinks an eye at stuff like that." He met her eyes. "So we're okay if we do this. My turn?"

Marietta smiled lightly. "Go ahead. I don't have anything more to hide from you, you know. Whatever I didn't talk about on stage tonight, I certainly don't mind talking about now."

He looked uncomfortable, but forged ahead. "Don't kick me, but you're not just doing this because you feel you owe me? Or because you think you have to after I've been valiantly heroic? I've had that happen far too many times. The sex hasn't been too bad, but it's a bother when all the details show up in Witch Weekly afterwards."

She hummed. She'd been considering that possibility and now it was time to speak truth to The Boy Who Lived. "No, Harry. I don't want to sleep with you because you're the mythical Harry Potter. I don't even know the real Harry Potter well enough. And me being naked and sweaty isn't my way of saying 'thanks for unjinxing me'."

"Then why?"

"Because," She shrugged. "I think you're much more stable than you were three years ago. What you've got now isn't post-traumatic stress but a normal, healthy reaction for a young man who's gotten much better at dealing with death. Looking back at our year with Umbridge? _That_ was post-traumatic stress. And I think that was why I hated you so much. Both you and Cho were devastated by Cedric's death: You were seriously unstable and she was grieving her heart out. You were the last two people who should have been dating each other. And I kept trying to tell Cho that, but she insisted on seeing you. She'd been hurt so badly by Cedric's dying, she'd thought you'd understand because you were there. But you were so damaged, too. And none of us knew that. We just thought, thanks to the Prophet and Fudge ... and your own loony behaviour, really, that you were an attention-seeking, glory-loving prat." Marietta kissed his mouth softly. "No offense, of course."

"Well, none taken," he grunted, but smiled and stroked the side of her neck with his palm.

"Cho's a trainee Healer now," she pointed out. "If present-her had met past-you, she'd have recognized the signs right off and helped you. And if present-you met past-her today, I'd like to think you'd be better equipped to deal with her pain. So," She half-closed her eyes as he kept rubbing that spot. "I want to sleep with you because I believe we're both better people than we've been." His fingers caressed a spot beneath her ear, making her moan and tilt her head. And he went and took that as an invitation to French-kiss her.

Marietta mmmphed as their mouths met, her lips parting in surprise and allowing his tongue to slip gently past them. His hand was still cupping the back of her neck and his hips were nestling nicely against her as her own hands slid back along their curve to his rear. It wasn't the usual hard, lip-bruising, teeth-scraping kiss that she'd usually had after going home with some drunk guy from the local pub, either.

The pressure was light and she knew she could pull back at any time. So she stayed where she was and gently broke away, letting him inhale before she drew him back in and reinitiated the liplock, taking her time and indulging in it with soft nibbles and tongue flicks. His hands responded by sliding beneath her sweatshirt, discovering her T-shirt, then untucking that and dipping beneath it to touch the bare skin of her back. She made a pleased noise in her throat and pushed her hips against his, feeling his hands slide up farther and try to brush her bra strap, but the position of her arms prevented him from reaching it.

He lifted his head. "Marietta?"

"Mmmm?" She licked her lips rather blatantly, but tried to look innocent as her fingers explored the pockets on the back of his jeans, her elbows tucked in against her sides and blocking his attempts at getting at her breasts.

He let his arms drop and rest on her waist again, still stroking bare skin. "Shouldn't we use your bedroom?"

She shrugged, using her toes to kick her shoes off. "We should. Do you think we can make it to the bed, or did you just want to do it on the floor?"

Harry leaned in and kissed her ear. "What I'd really like is seeing you nice and arched on all fours in those sweats, just like you were in the fireplace." His teeth brushed her earlobe, making her quiver and blush. Oh Merlin, he had noticed her. And he wanted to see it again. _Now_ she was aroused.

Straightening up, Marietta double-checked that the door was locked and flicked off the hall light. "I think it's reasonably tidy. Forgive me if it isn't?"

He nodded, setting his shoes beside hers on the matting. "Of course."

She took him by the hand and led him past her kitchenette and into her living room/bedroom, where a sparkling Christmas tree was tucked neatly into a corner between a standing wireless set and a bookcase stuffed with books and teen-witch magazines. A sturdy couch was still in its fold-out position in the middle of the room, blankets heaped on it haphazardly, with the coffee table pushed up against the closet and blocking the chest of drawers. A desk lamp on the windowsill behind the couch was the only light in the room.

"Like I said, it's small, but it's mine," Marietta glanced at him, apprehension warring with the fluttering arousal in her stomach. She knew he spent a lot of time with the Weasleys at their cottage which was really more of a sprawling home that was the envy of a few classmates. For all the jokes about Weasleys and money, it couldn't be denied that they had a prime piece of real estate. Her own little one-room place had to seem cramped by comparison.

His fingers teased hers as they clutched at him. "It's okay. I grew up in a room even smaller than this. I think I can stand making love to you in it." He grinned at her.

Stifling a small squeak of desire, she waved her wand and snapped the bedclothes straight, sheets and blankets tucking themselves tightly and pillows fluffing themselves up until the couch was impeccably made. "Okay. You say you want me on my hands and knees for your Christmas present, do you?"

"For starters," he said, letting his free hand drift down and slip into the front pockets of her hoodie to caress her stomach. "I think you've got a marvelous arse. Where we go from there is up to you."

Marietta groaned and let him palm her stomach muscles as they tightened in response to his touch. "Know why it's so marvelous? Because I was a Ravenclaw."

He circled his palm on her tummy. "What, you've got brains in your arse, too?"

"Nooooo." She pouted, but couldn't keep it up as his hand was making her body thrum. "All those stairs. Seven flights eight times a day, Harry! Sometimes ten. Do you have any idea what that does to a growing girl's glutes and thighs? My God, there were days I so needed a massage after running up and down the castle twenty times. And do you think I could find a boy to give me one without getting felt up? Horrible. Just horrible."

She moved to pull her arms in and take her hoodie off, but Harry shook his head. "I want to have the privilege of undressing you myself, if that's okay."

She grinned at him. "Nicest thing anyone's said to me in years, I think. Cheers, Harry, and Merry Christmas." She gently extricated his hand from her sweater pockets and moved towards her bed. Putting one knee on it and feeling her weight dip the mattress, she crawled forwards a bit at a time until both feet were just hanging off the edge. It was there that she stopped and glanced back over her shoulder at him.

He was still watching her from the entrance to the room and she felt another blush forming at the intensity of his gaze. Daringly, she turned back around and shuffled her knees wider apart, feeling her sweatpants pull tight across her rump as she leaned forward onto her elbows and eased her hips a bit further back. Her back muscles stretched out in that position and she inhaled deeply, feeling very exposed although she was fully clothed. She twitched a hip to one side, then the other, wiggling herself for him a little bit.

Harry stepped closer. Marietta could hear him move and closed her eyes in anticipation, going still again and keeping her head up to keep things stretched and taut. His breath was hot against her ear as he moved right up beside her. "You okay like that?"

Trembling, she nodded. "Mm-hmm." She was stretched out on display for him, waiting and finding herself halfway between dying of shame and having an orgasm right there. What he couldn't know was that it had been the position she had assumed the last couple times she had found a guy to sleep with. It was one of the few ways she had been able to hide her scarring; dropping onto all fours when it had been time and letting the bloke drunkenly prod her from behind, hands grabbing her hips and slapping most of his body against her with every thrust. She'd never come from that position and wasn't too fond of it. But this ... this was something different.

This pose wasn't shameful this time and this wasn't a drunken fumbling. She was on display because he'd asked her nicely and he was worshipping her, adoring her figure, and, Merlin, his fingers were kneading now and sliding along the inner curve of her .... She whimpered, finally unable to repress the sound as his thumbs pressed on a spot up inside her thigh that made her ache in a _very_ good way. Where had he been the last time she'd been up on all fours? And why, oh why was she this sensitive now when she'd never been...

Harry's hand brushed the curve of her rear and she jumped slightly, but made herself hold still as he stroked her again, caressing the back of her thigh. She hoped he wouldn't tug her pants down to her knees, because her thighs were still not the most attractive things in the world, despite all her earlier claims. Once a girl left Hogwarts, the daily stair regime wasn't there and no one had the time to keep it up. Then his other hand touched the other hip, following the same path along and down the back of her leg to her knee, then up again and over, and she had to muffle a deep groan at the good pressure. Oh, he was massaging her rump and she was letting him, her hips pushing back into his palms as they kneaded and teased very _intimate_ areas.

"There?" he asked softly, his palm sliding just a bit higher and cupping her where she swore he would be able to feel the heat from her body. His thumb was gliding back and forth along the sewn seam and the flannel was stretched so tight against her groin, it was as if there was nothing at all between the pad of his thumb and the heat of her pussy.

Marietta made another pleased sound and nodded. She relaxed slightly, feeling safe and knowing how nicely he was going to treat her. Her hips swayed with the slow pace of his kneading up and down, back and forth. His free hand was splayed across her tailbone, resting on top as he slid his free hand along the backs of her thighs, then up the inside again, skimming across her heated quim and then back down her other leg before sliding across her rear and starting the whole process again. _Mmmm._ His hands were sure and she was so very, very comfortable right now with that touch that she didn't want him to stop, but she really, really wanted to be naked. But she was also getting massaged to the point where she just wanted to ride his hand to orgasm by herself, fully clothed.

The next time his palm paused to cradle her quim, she pressed down and flexed her knees as she ground herself lightly against the heel of his hand. "This is gorgeous," she purred. "But I think I want to take up your offer of making love to me. Care to join me on here?"

She rolled onto her side, watching him as he sat on the side of the bed and removed his robe . Her body was humming nicely and she felt warm and limber as he slid up to join her. Then she was cuddling in and being stroked and rubbed, nuzzling her nose against his while her fingers ran through his black hair and her nails scraped against his scalp. It was all close contact of the sort that she had been starving for for years. She nestled a knee between his and even teased his bare feet with her fuzzy sock-covered ones, ravenous to feel all of him at once. Her breasts were pressing up against him, her thighs squeezing against his, and she was wriggling and rubbing herself along his body as much as she could, his pleased groans making her feel even warmer.

Before long, he submitted to her enthusiasm and lay back so Marietta could straddle him properly. As she grinned down at him, she had to use one hand to hold her reddish-blonde hair back. "Don't suppose you could get me a hair clip?" she suggested, nodding at the coffee table close to the bed. "My hair's not long enough to be twirled around a wand yet."

Beneath her, he reached up to fondle a few stray hairs just at her shoulders. "Could I at least see you with it loose?"

Marietta obligingly let it go and leaned forward. She kissed him on the mouth, slow and gentle, teasing him with her loose hair. "Harry," she said, brushing her lips against his and slipping him her pink tongue for a heartbeat, "very shortly, I'm going to put my mouth around your cock and for the first time in my life, I won't have to hide myself behind my hair. Consequently, I won't be accidentally choking on it and can devote all my attention to pleasuring you. If you want to take my sweater off and play with my breasts first, be my guest. But right now, please get me a clip."

He handed her a clip and sat up enough to lift her sweater off, followed by her T-shirt before letting her pull his shirt off. As she sat in his lap in just her sweatpants and bra, pressed chest-to-chest with him, she glanced down at her exposed cleavage. "Cho's more stacked than I am, I think," she murmured, suppressing a giggle. "Asian with a lot of nice boob: That's her."

"I wouldn't know," he told her, reaching around behind her back to search out the clasp. "Those Hogwarts robes hide just about everything. I think it's a conspiracy." His fingers explored the curve of her spine lightly, sliding over her bra straps as if they were committing the hooks and clasps to memory.

"A conspiracy," she repeated, enjoying the feel of the hot skin of his chest against hers and the interesting sensations his fumbling was causing on her spine. "Oh, absolutely. Because there's no danger in being distracted from your spell-work in Transfiguration by a great pair of knockers, is there?" She gave a soft 'mmph!' as he finally got around to unsnapping her bra and sliding her shoulder straps down. "So, how many breasts have you seen live?" she queried, looking interested and rocking her shoulders from side to side, her straps at her elbows and her palms keeping her bra cups covering her up.

Harry blew at the fringe of his hair, now much messier from all the toying she had been doing with him. "Ginny's, a few times. Couple of other pairs before I stopped dating bints. Oh, and there was this one witch in Auror training at the beginning who eventually washed out. She said the wrong words one day and ended up with three of a kind. She made a few Galleons that evening showing them off before getting the middle one removed at St. Mungo's."

Marietta smiled and dropped her bra in his lap, putting her hands on his shoulders and sitting up straighter to brush her full breasts against him. "How about these?" She teased them against his chin, buffetting his cheeks gently and enjoying the feel of his breath against her breastbone.

He moaned, reaching for them and Marietta sighed as he cupped and fondled her, enjoying his appreciation and approval after so many, many months of being afraid of him. She was soon making soft noises as his kisses covered her breasts, his tongue teasing over her nipples one at a time. His hands were warm from rubbing her and she guided him to the undersides of her breasts where she was quite sensitive. "Yeah," she groaned, rocking gently in his lap as he brushed her nipples with his palms, then leaned in to take one into his mouth. "Just like that, baby." She arched her head back and moaned as he suckled, her hands caressing his shoulders and her body shuddering at the gentle, gentle bites that plucked at her nipples and made them hard between his lips.

Managing to eventually, reluctantly ease his face from her cleavage, she pushed him down onto his back before slithering down his body, her pleasantly-aching breasts dragging over him until she settled at his feet. Putting her hair back into the clip, she tilted her head both ways, stretching neck muscles and licking her lips. "I'd like to come back to that dorsal position later, if you could," she said, undoing his belt slowly and removing it. "It might help exorcise a few demons if you can do it gently." Her palm massaged his groin gently for a bit, Marietta nestling her cheek against his thigh as she watched his reactions to her stroking. Eventually, she walked her fingers up and unsnapped his jeans, dragging his zipper down and wriggling her hand inside to where things were nice and warm. They were also soft and interesting, and she let her fingers explore inside his pants, going by touch alone to heighten the mystery and sensations she was feeling from him. She'd never taken the time to explore a man like this before and her own arousal was making her slick and eager, as were the gasps and moans he was making at her touch. Finally, she couldn't take the suspense any longer and tugged his jeans down his legs, lifting each of them to yank the denim off. "But first I want a good look at you, if you'll let me."

Harry lifted his hips, helping her undress him. "I think we can do that," he said, still gazing at her hungrily as if he hadn't had a woman in months. Given what he'd told her in her foyer, it seemed to be true. Merlin, they were both starved for affection and now, in the glow of her desk lamp, they were satisfying themselves. His upper body was well-lit, showing a nice, hairy chest and stomach. He wasn't too muscled or defined, but she supposed that it had been ages since he'd played Quidditch. Not that she minded.

With a deft move, she stripped him of his underwear and socks and gazed at his semi-erect cock just as eagerly as he'd eyed her. Mentally measuring him, she reached forward, glancing up at him to make sure she was allowed. At his nod, she gently wrapped her fingers around his hot cock and stroked him up and down, getting a feel for his size compared to when he was tucked up in his jeans. "Harry, you feel amazing," she murmured, shifting closer and lowering her head to kiss his tip, letting her tongue slip out to tease him. At his pleased sound, she grinned up at him. "What, not going to ask how many cocks I've seen live?"

He blushed. "I thought that would be impolite."

Marietta slid her cupped hand up and down, exploring the thatch of dark hair surrounding the base of his cock and stroking him until he was fully erect and thick so she could judge his girth. She was stretched out on her stomach so she could have both hands free to explore him. "Mmmm. I asked you, so I don't mind. None at Hogwarts, if you can believe it. And maybe only a couple since I left. You know, last call at the pub, find a guy who was willing and had enough lager that he didn't mind my face looked like a Blast-Ended Skrewt won the argument."

Harry squeezed his eyes shut. "Marie, I'm so sorry." Then he opened them again. "Is that bad, calling you that?"

"Shhh," she counseled, her heart fluttering a little at the shortening of her name. She'd never let anyone do that before but tonight it was okay, coming from him. "It's all right, Harry. I told you, I'm working it all out. And I want to work some of it out on you tonight, if it's okay. See, I like to think I'm pretty good at sucking cock." She dipped her head down and took his head into her mouth for a slow suck and tongue swirl, just as a demonstration. Hearing him gasp, she pulled off again and smiled up at him. "It's another way I used to keep the guy from thinking about me. I couldn't use those charmed Masks with a Muggle around, so I just kept my hair over my face and blew him like this." Her head lowered again and she took more of him into her mouth, sucking nice and firm before easing off again. "But tonight? Tonight I'm doing this because I want to pleasure you, not hide myself. And I want to enjoy doing this, for once. Let me, please?" She rubbed her chin against his erection, purring a little at him, her hand still moving up and down his shaft.

He groaned and nodded, his hands sliding over her shoulders and brushing stray strands of hair out of her face.

"Mmmkay." Marietta smiled and licked her lips before she slid her mouth over his cock again, humming softly around him as she started a slow head bob up and down, letting her tongue slither around and under his foreskin. Keeping her fingers curled around the base of his shaft, she used her other hand to gently fondle and tease his balls, being daring in a way she couldn't have before.

Lifting her head, she deliberately let him see her lick her lips again. "Are you on a hair trigger tonight, Harry?" She nuzzled the head of his now-slick cock, breathing in the scent of his being a man who took care of himself. She liked that and it made all the difference to her.

He shook his head.

"Oh, good," she said, letting his erection brush her cheek as she nuzzled more. "I think I like being able to take my time." She cupped and gave his sac a light squeeze, just exploring his body before she brushed some more of her loose hair aside and took him into her mouth again. This time, she lifted her eyes to watch as she blew him, seeing his neck arch and his mouth make a delicious 'o' shape when she ran her tongue around the edge of his crown. And all of it just got her more aroused, too.

Pulling off of him with a soft pop as he slipped out of her mouth, she resumed her gentle handjob, resting her free hand on his firm thigh. He was in better shape than she was, she thought briefly, teasing her breasts against his legs as she lay on him, even without the definition. Then she slid her hand down his cock and eased his foreskin back so she could suck him off some more. She liked the sounds he had been making when she did that, slipping him between her wet lips, then out again, listening to him breathe every time she made his cock disappear into her mouth. She knew she was good at that; she'd done it before, but tonight it was different because she was being watched by Harry while she gave him a long, luxurious blowjob. His hands weren't holding her head, his fingers weren't pulling on her hair, and she wasn't being made to take more than she could handle. Being appeciated was very gratifying, she thought, her head going down on him as much as she could before she let him go again. "I think I'd like to keep doing this," she told him, giving him tiny little licks every few words, "But I also want to be really, really naked with you. Whatever should I do?"

Harry sat up. "You should let me finish undressing you," he suggested, and surprised her by kissing her mouth, when she'd just been blowing him. In her experience, guys never did that. At her surprised little _mmrph!_, he grinned and did it again. "That was cute." Then she was being rolled over and her couch springs protested as she bounced onto her back, Harry's hands beneath her waistband and pulling her sweatpants, socks, and underwear down and off her ankles. "Hey," he asked, frowning a little as he pushed their clothes off the bed. "Is this going to support us if we really get bouncing? Those springs didn't sound great."

Marietta shrugged and ran her hands down his chest, her nails scraping the fine, dark hair as he slid between her legs, both of them completely nude. "I've never had sex on the fold-out, so I can't say. But there are Cushioning Charms on the legs so it doesn't scrape or bang on the floor. If things break, the Charms will cushion us, too. And I'm really not the acrobatic type. You?"

He considered that, then shrugged, rubbing the side of her breast. "Nah."

"Good." As she watched him play with her breasts some more and kiss them, working his way down to her navel, something else occured to her and she squirmed insistently. "Harry?"

"Mmm?"

He kissed her somewhere that made her eyes lose focus and she, damn it, had to fight it. She tugged on his hair, making him lift his head and tongue from her belly-button. "Protection. Did you want to use Muggle or magical? I've got both."

He blinked at that. "God, good thinking," he said, resting his forearms on either side of her and kissing her slightly plump belly. Merlin, she had to get herself back into shape. It was sweet of him to have not said anything about it. "What do you have for magical?"

"Charms." Rolling over slightly, she opened a drawer that wasn't blocked by the coffee table and opened a box, bringing out a silver bracelet and a small rope necklace with a gold charm on it. Slipping the necklace on so the charm hung between her breasts, she took his left wrist and snapped the bracelet around it, adjusting the fit. "There. Yours, the silver, is for the male and mine's the female. They're meant to work together. Cho got them for me from St. Mungo's and she says they'll prevent everything." She lifted his hand to her mouth and lightly brushed them with the tip of her tongue, drawing his middle finger into her mouth and sucking on it teasingly. "So if you want to come in me, you can. I don't mmmmmind," she murmured around his fingertip.

His free hand caressed her stomach, then eased lower as she continued to commit deliberate fellatio on his fingers. Marietta kept her eyes on his face, watching him as she bobbed her head back and forth, switching fingers occasionally. She could feel his other hand sliding through her dark blonde pubes over and over, just massaging her gently there, and she appreciated his slow pace. Then he slipped a finger lower and parted her pussy lips enough to slide it into the wet heat of her quim.

Marietta bit softly on his knuckle as he penetrated her, closing her eyes and nodding to encourage him. With her mouth full, all she could do was moan and she wanted him to keep going rather than worry about hurting her. She wasn't that tight, and right now she was wetter than she'd been in any other encounter, so he was just slipping easily into her. And it felt incredible.

Taking his wrist, she moved her head off and kissed his palm. "Harry, put another in," she breathed, parting her knees so he would have more room. "I can take it. Please." He was stroking her lightly and she could barely think as he was sinking deeper and deeper with each light press.

He obligingly drew back out, making her shiver and then blush as he brought it up to his mouth and sucked it clean. Before she could say anything, he'd pushed two fingers back into her and was gliding them in and out of her quim gently, the heel of his hand bumping her mound with each careful thrust.

The humming she'd been experiencing from when she was on all fours came right back as her pussy was massaged and Marietta just let her head sink back against her pillows. She was blissing out as his fingers curled up inside her, sending sparks shooting up her body.

Before she knew it, her hands were in Harry's thick, black hair and he was letting her guide his head down. His tongue traced a slow path over her mound and brushed through her curls, taking a few moments to lap at her there before sliding downwards. Then his mouth fastened onto her pussy and she gave a small yip of bliss at the wet contact.

Harry was licking and sucking, with his fingers curling inside of her, and she was twisting and wriggling with her fleet flat on the bed and her hips tilting for more pressure on her clit. She was panting and breathing rapid, incomprehensible instructions to him as he lapped and swirled his tongue against her pussy. Before she realized it, the humming had increased to a low throbbing that was pushing her hips up against his tongue in slow, rhythmic motions.

And then he was twisting his head away and up. Marietta glanced down and saw that he was looking rather dazed, as if he needed air. "Oh, sorry!" she said, panting as she realized that she'd been suffocating him. She hadn't had anyone go down on her in her life and she was shocked at the sensations. "Ummm." She tried to breathe normally. "Sorry. Was I saying anything ... naughty in all that?"

Harry shook his head, either in denial or to clear it. "I couldn't tell, the way I was wearing your thighs for earmuffs." He planted a kiss on her dark golden curls again and nuzzled at them a bit, seemingly enjoying the way her pubes tickled his nose. "Feeling good?"

She squirmed. "Mmmhmmm. Can you keep doing that, please?"

"Yeah," he breathed over her, giving her another light lick. Then his tongue lavished some attention on her pussy and she writhed with pleasure, bucking occasionally when his mouth passed over her clit. God, Harry Potter, of all people, was eating her out. She could feel him holding her pussy open down there as he explored her completely with his lips, plucking softly at her labia, burrowing into her pussy, and tasting her oh-so-deeply.

Finally, sadly, he lifted his head from between her thighs. "Think you're ready?"

She shifted her weight to free up a foot, which she moved over to stroke her instep against his hot, hard erection. "Yeah, babe. I am," she said, gliding her foot up and down, smiling. "Roll over again for me?"

He changed places with her and lay back as she knelt astride his thighs, opening herself nice and wide. Then she shuffled up and knelt right over his erection, reaching down to lightly cup his shaft and line it up with her pussy. Dropping down just a little bit, she gave a sudden gasp and nearly went cross-eyed when the head of his cock slipped and ground right against her clit. Then she adjusted things a little and the tip eased back to part her pussy lips. Her knees folded more and he was slipping into her hot little quim, pushing agonizingly slowly into her pussy, and she still continued to lower herself onto him, making slow circles with her hips to make sure he would fit. All the time, she watched his eyes as they grew wider with every inch of him that sank into her body.

Soon she was sitting on his hips and he was completely sheathed inside her. Marietta slowly leaned forward, bracing her hands and feeling the way he curved against her walls. She kept going, bending all the way over so she could give Harry a kiss, tasting herself faintly on his lips. "Hi," she murmured, giving a small shimmy of her hips and testing the tension inside her.

"Hi," he breathed back. "You feel brilliant."

She laughed and kissed him again before she sat up straight and gave a tentative bounce, her breasts jiggling as she did. Then she began to ride him, taking her time as she slid up and down his cock.

The two of them rocked together slowly, fitting closer the more Marietta rode him. Neither was rushing for that first orgasm, content to just stay close to the edge and play around with each other. He learned that she liked having her breasts cupped when she was sitting and bouncing, and she learned that she could make him gasp by sliding her hips up the length of his cock while her mouth was nursing on his nipples. Marietta even stroked herself a little bit when she was resting, still mounted on him, and showed him just how she liked to strum her clit while he told her what watching her did for him

Finally, she gave a particularly deep corkscrew of her hips and shuddered with the sparks of a miniature climax. "I don't know about you," she groaned, "but I think I need to come. Can we please switch back to doggy-style for that?"

He groaned too as she lifted off of him and he sat up. "I thought most witches preferred calling that stance 'Hippogriff-style'."

"Yeah, some do because they think it's more exotic," she admitted as she knelt beside him. "Then again, girls like that don't do this, either." She slipped her mouth over his glistening erection and took him as deep as she could manage. Pursing her lips, she drew her head up in a long, stretching suck that cleaned him off, her suction making his hips rise with the pull of her mouth, lifting and lifting until the crown of his cock slid from between her lips and he flopped back down, panting.

Marietta swallowed slowly, deliberately, feeling utterly wanton. She hadn't realized the true meaning of that word until tonight, because she'd never dreamed of sucking her own juices off a guy's cock like that. Honestly, she didn't taste that great, but she'd left any sense of reason behind the minute she'd hiked her rump up into the air for him. _Speaking of which..._

She moved towards the foot of her bed and set herself on her hands and knees, wiggling fingers away from the springs as she grabbed the metal edge of her fold-out. Her knees slid apart on the blanket, spreading nice and wide and her hips tilted up, waiting for Harry to plunge into her again.

Instead, she suddenly felt his warmth covering her back and his lips teasing her earlobe. There was a hand cupping her breast and the other dipped the mattress by her right hand as he braced all his weight on it. "You've never been affectionately fucked, have you?" he asked her. "It's been all shagging and slobbering and tab-A in slot-B, hasn't it?"

Marietta hesitated, then nodded, almost tearful as that statement hit her. It had always been just sex. Not the sort of thing she and Harry had been doing tonight, pretty much from the moment she'd leapt into his arms backstage at the auditorium. Fighting for their lives together had been a bonding experience and they had talked about things tonight that she certainly couldn't with anyone from the local pub. Never mind that he had been so lovely and gentle with her body. God, she wanted him inside her. And maybe she wanted _him_, too, even if only just a little bit.

His mouth left her ear and he switched hands to brush her hair aside and plant a few kisses along the side of her throat. "I know that you think the whole healing sex thing is a myth," he said, running his fingers through a few strawberry-blonde curls that had come loose. "But just look to your right for a minute."

She flicked her head to the right in curiosity and saw a side view of herself on all fours in the mirror on top of her dresser. Harry was nestled down against her, kissing the back of her shoulder, his hand curling protectively around her breast and she could see and feel him plucking softly at her nipple. It felt quite good. Then he shifted, lifting himself up and she felt something else: the hot, throbbing sensation of him re-entering her, nice and slow from behind. And she could see it in the mirror now as he sank into her inch by slow inch. She watched, almost mesmerized by the sight of her own body swaying, being penetrated so carefully underneath the glow of one soft light bulb from a desk lamp.

He hilted her finally, his hips rubbing against the curve of her rump in the mirror. He was watching as well and she met his reflection's eyes. "Fuck, you look good like this," he breathed. Marietta stifled a squirm and tried to hold still so she wouldn't lose the view as he eased back slowly. His cock was sliding out of her again, then it was pushing back in, and she could see and feel it deep inside her each time he thrust, rocking her ever-so-lightly forward. The charm around her neck was swaying with her, the little gold figurine glinting. His hands were resting on the top of her tailbone and his thumbs were actually playing with her arse. And she didn't mind. If this was how she was really supposed to feel while in this pose, she could stand it for ages. What she'd done before didn't matter any longer.

"This pace good?" he asked, sounding as if he was holding himself back. "Look back at me, Marie, please. Let me see you looking back at me while I'm doing this."

Marietta moaned softly and turned her head slowly to look back over her shoulder at him. "Yeah, it's good, Harry, it feels so good," she moaned, kissing her own shoulder and twitching her hips as he was indeed sliding against some very good spots inside her pussy. "You're fucking me nicely, babe." She wasn't much for sex talk, normally, but she was just too turned on to really care. And a little encouragement never hurt, especially if it meant more attention.

Then Harry stilled, his cock nestling deep inside her, and curled down over her body again to cradle her breasts. "Come sit up on me here, Marie," he breathed, gently pulling her up onto her knees and pressing his chest into her back.

Kneeling upright, Marietta gasped as the angle of his cock changed inside her. And one hand was kneading her breast while his other was sliding along her quim, sliding down and up until she spasmed at the pressure around her clit. Then his fingers began to stroke there and he resumed pumping into her, both of them starting to rock together on their knees. She cast a wild glance at the mirror again and felt her body quiver at the sight of herself arched back against him as he fucked her just like she wanted. Tilting her head just a bit more, she managed to find his lips with her own and the kiss he gave her scorched them. "Harry," she whined, pulling free and licking at his mouth as his hips slapped hers lightly, "Harry, don't stop. I'm soooo close. _Mmmmm!_"

His fingers swirled around the swollen hood of her clit, mimicking the movements she liked when she was playing with herself, just as the tip of his cock was pressing up against the front of her pussy. And that little combination finally undid her.

Marietta sobbed as her body shook in a haze of bliss, feeling her pussy drawing his cock in as her inner muscles were fluttering and squeezing him. She could hardly stay upright but was cradled in his arms, so she just hung there and squirmed on his cock. She barely heard his own groan of climax in her ear, but as she began to come down, she could feel the thick pulsing of his cum as he climaxed inside her. The two of them had been going at it an awfully long time with no release, so she wasn't surprised he had been oh-so-primed to go off.

She lowered herself onto her elbows and panted as her vision cleared of stars, rocking forward gently as Harry's orgasm subsided and his thrusts eased. "Oh. Ohhhhh."

Harry kissed the nape of her neck, covering her back with his body as he nuzzled her. "Wow."

"Mmhmmm," she breathed, "Well, _that_ beat anything I've been able to give myself so far." She met his gaze in the mirror. "Thank you so much for paying attention when I was showing you how to do that to my clit." Then her knees buckled and they both collapsed onto the blankets, Harry landing on her back and making her "oof!" as he squashed her. Before he could push himself up again, Marietta giggled and rolled over to draw him down atop her so she could kiss him some more. "Merry Christmas, Harry." She gave him a slow curl of her tongue, then tilted her head back. "I don't know where this is going to go now. I mean, I like sex as much as the next person and I really like orgasms. But I don't know if we're meant to be a dating couple or not yet..." She furrowed her brow at the look on his face. "Let me guess: save this sort of talk until we've both had some sleep and a bit more sex?"

He nodded. "Yeah, please. But I know what you mean." He winced as he snagged his contraception bracelet on the blanket and knelt up to tug it free. "How long should we keep these on for?"

She shrugged lazily, shifting her body to nestle herself against his thigh. "I'd say for a bit, yet."

\- - -

"This is the first Christmas I've had where I haven't had to think about Voldemort," Harry said, sighing as he traced the outline of a Snitch on Marietta's bare tailbone. Both of them were back in bed after going out for lunch at a cafe nearby, the curtains on her fifth-floor windows open now and letting the afternoon winter sunlight into her small flat. "It seems almost improper, somehow. I never even sent him a Christmas present when he was still alive." He gave her rear a gentle squeeze and looked down where her head was resting on his shoulder. "On the other hand, it is the first Christmas morning I've woken up with a girl in her own bed."

Marietta mmmed and cuddled closer. "Harry ..." She tried to figure out how to phrase what she had to say next. "Do you think I need to talk to your friends? Hermione in particular?"

"About what?" he asked.

"About me. Merlin, about _us_ being friendly." She looked down at their bodies. "Well, okay. More than friendly. Someone's going to have objections to you forgiving me, let alone me sleeping with you. I know you and I are as okay as we can be right now, but I hear that the Weasley clan knows how to hold a grudge." She glanced at him and immediately sat up at his pained expression. _Bloody hell, that tosspot Ginny._ "Oh, Harry. I'm sorry. I forgot about that." Cupping his chin, she kissed him. "Maybe we can kill two Grims with one Thestral here. Let's get dressed and go visit the Burrow."

Harry grunted. "What if they don't want to listen? Weasleys can be stubborn, too."

"Then I'll call Percy on the Floo Network and he'll argue for us at their dinner table. One way or another, we're not going to be feeling sorry for ourselves on Christmas Day. We may have to apologize for being idiots, but I do have some practice at that." Marietta shivered a little and slid back beneath her blankets as she continued, "We're both still damaged, but we're repairing ourselves a little at a time. There's no potion, Charm, or sex position that's going to make it all go away. Even with that Memory Charm last year, I was feeling just awful. It was a relief when it broke, but even then there was another boatload of guilt to bail out. That's when I had to do the impossible and face it all in public."

He considered that, then he kissed her forehead. "How do you do this? How do you keep saying that you're sorry?"

"It gets easier every time I do it." She kissed him back. "And Percy taught me how, too. The hardest thing is conquering that fear that you're going to make a right idiot of yourself. Once you get past that and you've humiliated yourself, there's only one way to go from there. Often it's that willingness to show that you're vulnerable that makes all the difference. It worked on you, didn't it?"

"Seems like it," he admitted, rubbing his nose against hers. "But a lot of people didn't want to hear that I was sorry. They wanted their sons and daughters back. They wanted their families to still be together. And I couldn't do that. It still eats at me, too"

His hand rested on his own stomach and Marietta understood the feeling he was talking about. "It's hard to believe," she murmured, her hand joining his briefly before drawing it back over to her own body, "but what worked for me might not work for you. Confession was good for my soul, but that's only because I had made a terrible mistake. I had to find the courage to admit that I'd been weak and scared. But you ... you didn't make a mistake. All those people made a choice to stand with you, even against your wishes. Or that's what Cho's told me. She also said you wanted to keep doing things alone, and that's an extremely unhealthy way to live, Harry, especially when grief is involved." She brought his palm up to her mouth for a slow lick. "The next time you need to apologize, don't go alone. Take people with you who love and believe in you, so people can see them. As I learned last night, having someone at my back can be extremely comforting."

Harry eased his hand free and slid it down her shoulder and along her side, stroking her from ribs to hip. "You know, I reviewed my opinion of you last night because you didn't blink when you were asked to step into that situation at Woodchester. And then, when you asked for help, I had to do it again. You weren't an Auror or a trained Ministry enforcer, but you asked for someone who was. You already had my respect when I saw you on stage. Everything you did after that just made you amazingly hot."

Marietta blushed as he cradled a bare breast and stroked her. "Thank you. So, is that a yes to going out and throwing ourselves on the mercy and goodness of people who are annoyed with us?"

Harry appeared to think, then leaned down and brushed his lips against her nipple. "Yeah, let's do that. But how about one for the road first?" he suggested, reaching for her contraception necklace and giving the charm a kiss before slipping it over her head.

With a giggle, she lay back and did what she should have done years before, which was to submit gracefully beneath his gentleness.

**Author's Note:**

> Are you the author of this story and just got your own AO3 account? Email me at: smuttyclausmods@gmail.com and I will edit the author name to reflect your new account!


End file.
